Your audiobook is waiting…
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
People who bought this also bought...
-
This Is How You Lose Her
- By: Junot Díaz
- Narrated by: Junot Díaz
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stories in This Is How You Lose Her, by turns hilarious and devastating, raucous and tender, lay bare the infinite longing and inevitable weaknesses of our all-too-human hearts. They capture the heat of new passion, the recklessness with which we betray what we most treasure, and the torture we go through - "the begging, the crawling over glass, the crying" - to try to mend what we've broken beyond repair. They recall the echoes that intimacy leaves behind, even where we thought we did not care.
-
-
For narration leave the prose for the pros
- By Roy Reiss on 01-01-13
-
Tinkers
- By: Paul Harding
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An old man lies dying. Confined to bed in his living room, he sees the walls around him begin to collapse, the windows come loose from their sashes, and the ceiling plaster fall off in great chunks, showering him with a lifetime of debris: newspaper clippings, old photographs, wool jackets, rusty tools, and the mangled brass works of antique clocks. Soon, the clouds from the sky above plummet down on top of him, followed by the stars, till the black night covers him like a shroud. He is hallucinating.
-
-
Unique but valuable read
- By Joanne on 02-19-11
-
Drown
- By: Junot Diaz
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With 10 stories that move from the barrios of the Dominican Republic to the struggling urban communities of New Jersey, Junot Diaz makes his remarkable debut. Diaz's work is unflinching and strong, and these stories crackle with an electric sense of discovery.
-
-
Latino literature at its best!
- By Absinthe on 03-15-11
-
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
- By: Benjamin Alire Saenz
- Narrated by: Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship - the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.
-
-
One of the best novels I've listened to in years.
- By Rain on 10-27-13
-
In the Time of the Butterflies
- By: Julia Alvarez
- Narrated by: Noemi de la Puente, Alma Cuervo, Bianca Carnacho, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is November 25, 1960, and the bodies of three beautiful, convent-educated sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. El Caribe, the official newspaper, reports their deaths as an accident. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of General Raphael Leonidas Trujillo's dictatorship.
-
-
Maybe it's just me but...
- By Sarah C Poller on 03-05-16
-
A Visit from the Goon Squad
- By: Jennifer Egan
- Narrated by: Roxana Ortega
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other’s pasts, the listener does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in locales as varied as New York, San Francisco, Naples, and Africa.
-
This Is How You Lose Her
- By: Junot Díaz
- Narrated by: Junot Díaz
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stories in This Is How You Lose Her, by turns hilarious and devastating, raucous and tender, lay bare the infinite longing and inevitable weaknesses of our all-too-human hearts. They capture the heat of new passion, the recklessness with which we betray what we most treasure, and the torture we go through - "the begging, the crawling over glass, the crying" - to try to mend what we've broken beyond repair. They recall the echoes that intimacy leaves behind, even where we thought we did not care.
-
-
For narration leave the prose for the pros
- By Roy Reiss on 01-01-13
-
Tinkers
- By: Paul Harding
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An old man lies dying. Confined to bed in his living room, he sees the walls around him begin to collapse, the windows come loose from their sashes, and the ceiling plaster fall off in great chunks, showering him with a lifetime of debris: newspaper clippings, old photographs, wool jackets, rusty tools, and the mangled brass works of antique clocks. Soon, the clouds from the sky above plummet down on top of him, followed by the stars, till the black night covers him like a shroud. He is hallucinating.
-
-
Unique but valuable read
- By Joanne on 02-19-11
-
Drown
- By: Junot Diaz
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With 10 stories that move from the barrios of the Dominican Republic to the struggling urban communities of New Jersey, Junot Diaz makes his remarkable debut. Diaz's work is unflinching and strong, and these stories crackle with an electric sense of discovery.
-
-
Latino literature at its best!
- By Absinthe on 03-15-11
-
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
- By: Benjamin Alire Saenz
- Narrated by: Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship - the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.
-
-
One of the best novels I've listened to in years.
- By Rain on 10-27-13
-
In the Time of the Butterflies
- By: Julia Alvarez
- Narrated by: Noemi de la Puente, Alma Cuervo, Bianca Carnacho, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is November 25, 1960, and the bodies of three beautiful, convent-educated sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. El Caribe, the official newspaper, reports their deaths as an accident. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of General Raphael Leonidas Trujillo's dictatorship.
-
-
Maybe it's just me but...
- By Sarah C Poller on 03-05-16
-
A Visit from the Goon Squad
- By: Jennifer Egan
- Narrated by: Roxana Ortega
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other’s pasts, the listener does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in locales as varied as New York, San Francisco, Naples, and Africa.
-
The Orphan Master's Son
- A Novel
- By: Adam Johnson
- Narrated by: Tim Kang, Josiah D. Lee, James Kyson Lee, and others
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother - a singer “stolen” to Pyongyang - and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return.
-
-
It Went From Well Written To Pulitzer Prize Worthy
- By Brigham on 12-15-15
-
White Teeth
- A Novel
- By: Zadie Smith
- Narrated by: Lenny Henry, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Ray Panthaki, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad and their families become agents of England’s irrevocable transformation. A second marriage to Clara Bowden, a beautiful, albeit tooth-challenged, Jamaican half his age, quite literally gives Archie a second lease on life, and produces Irie, a knowing child whose personality doesn’t quite match her name (Jamaican for “no problem”). Samad’s late-in-life arranged marriage produces twin sons whose separate paths confound Iqbal’s every effort to direct them.
-
-
A Modern Classic Reworked
- By j phillips on 06-06-18
-
The Known World
- By: Edward P. Jones
- Narrated by: Kevin Free
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor, William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful white man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation, as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief, and things begin to fall apart.
-
-
wonderful and highly recommended
- By Rachel on 09-06-04
-
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
- By: Michael Chabon
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1939, in New York City. Joe Kavalier, a young artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdiniesque escape, has just pulled off his greatest feat: smuggling himself out of Hitler's Prague. He's looking to make big money, fast, so that he can bring his family to freedom. His cousin, Brooklyn's own Sammy Clay, is looking for a partner in creating the heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit the American dreamscape: the comic book. Inspired by their own fantasies, fears, and dreams, they create the Escapist.
-
-
Escape From Reality is a Worthy Challenge
- By Dave on 07-11-12
-
One Hundred Years of Solitude
- By: Gabriel García Márquez, Gregory Rabassa - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career. The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Rich and brilliant, it is a chronicle of life, death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the beautiful, ridiculous, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
-
-
This story is meant to be listened to
- By Emilia on 04-23-14
-
The Underground Railroad (Oprah's Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Newest Oprah Book Club 2016 Selection. Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood - where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned - Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
-
-
Stupendous book, hard to follow in audio
- By JQR on 12-01-16
-
Americanah
- By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As teenagers, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love in a Nigeria under military dictatorship. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America, where Obinze hopes to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?
-
-
Dazzling, Romantic, and Witty
- By Anna-Bo-Banana on 04-28-14
-
Middlesex
- By: Jeffrey Eugenides
- Narrated by: Kristoffer Tabori
- Length: 21 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls' school in Grosse Pointe, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry-blonde classmate with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them - along with Callie's failure to develop physically - leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, she is not really a girl at all.
-
-
Worth Waiting It Out
- By D. N. Meads on 08-28-09
-
Empire Falls
- By: Richard Russo
- Narrated by: Ron McLarty
- Length: 20 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dexter County, Maine, and specifically the town of Empire Falls, has seen better days, and for decades, in fact, only a succession from bad to worse. One by one, its logging and textile enterprises have gone belly-up, and the once vast holdings of the Whiting clan (presided over by the last scion’s widow) now mostly amount to decrepit real estate. The working classes, meanwhile, continue to eke out whatever meager promise isn’t already boarded up. Miles Roby gazes over this ruined kingdom from the Empire Grill, an opportunity of his youth that has become the albatross of his life.
-
-
Hugely Enjoyable
- By margaret on 01-23-12
-
The Goldfinch
- By: Donna Tartt
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 32 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity. It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
-
-
Wow
- By j phillips on 05-28-17
-
The Man on the Mountaintop
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Susan Trott, Libby Spurrier - adaptor
- Narrated by: Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Clare Corbett, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Man on the Mountaintop tells the story of Holy Man Joe, an ageing and unassuming man who lives in a hermitage on top of a mountain. During the summer months, thousands of hopefuls line the path leading to his door, seeking his wisdom. From bombastic, wealthy nobles intent on cheating their way to the top to drunkards who gradually build the physical and mental strength they need to quit their addiction, The Man on the Mountaintop is a rousing tale full of humour, wit and life lessons.
-
-
Simple - which is all you really need
- By Solunari on 02-01-19
-
Bless Me, Ultima
- By: Rudolfo Anaya
- Narrated by: Robert Ramirez
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Tony follows his own path toward adulthood, he relies on the wisdom of Ultima, a magical healer, to forge his unique identity. With hundreds of thousands of copies in print, Bless Me, Ultima has been called the most widely read Mexican-American novel in the English language. Richly evocative, it has earned its place among the classics of modern literature, even drawing favorable comparisons to Herman Melville's legendary Moby Dick.
-
-
Modern classic - but prepare to think
- By Mark W. Bohrer on 02-28-15
Publisher's Summary
Read by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony Award®-winning creator and star of the musical Hamilton, and Tony Award®-winning actress, Karen Olivo. This brilliant narration adds another layer of lyricism and depth to this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic novel.
Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuku: the curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim.
Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience - and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Diaz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.
More from the same
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
-
-
5 Stars779
-
4 Stars219
-
3 Stars57
-
2 Stars28
-
1 Stars9
Performance
-
-
5 Stars937
-
4 Stars78
-
3 Stars17
-
2 Stars3
-
1 Stars1
Story
-
-
5 Stars701
-
4 Stars212
-
3 Stars77
-
2 Stars21
-
1 Stars19
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Wanda O.Hughes
- 03-06-17
Poor Oscar
the story is compelling. At times I got a little confused because it jumps around a lot. But I was definitely sucked into the magical energy of the curse in the family. so well-read too. Definitely worth a listen.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alison
- 02-27-18
Lin-Manuel Miranda's performance is perfect
I rarely review here on Audible, but this performance was so stunningly brilliant that I needed to come here to share it.
A decent amount of Spanish, a high tolerance for profanity, and a strong background in sci-fi/fantasy are all potential prerequisites for this book. As a person with a deep love of sci-fi/fantasy, a passing familiarity with Spanish, possessed of an excellent variety of profanity, and having grown up in North Jersey (to the point where I can see many of the places referred to in my mind) and attending Rutgers in the early 90s, I could, in my mind, walk the halls of the dorms, eat in the cafeteria, navigate to the apartments and streets he described, and for a few hours, flash back to that entire portion of my own life. I can vouch for its 100% authenticity in the parts to which I relate.
But the performance... the performance is worth every single moment and more. I didn't listen to this book, I lived in it. I inhabited it. Miranda was spellbinding. He utterly owned this role and shared it with the world. I cannot speak highly enough of his narration (Karen Olivo was also excellent, but her appearance was fairly brief comparatively).
I don't know if this has won any Audies, but it is more deserving of one than any book I have listened to, ever. So highly recommended on so many levels, but *especially* for the narration.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jennifer Winters
- 03-08-17
Beautiful and devastating
I loved every minute of this book. The story was raw and beautiful and I was hooked. Lin Manuel Miranda's reading was phenomenal.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- R. Padilla
- 02-03-17
Brought to life by Lin Manuel's performance
Lin Manuel's performance brings the story to life in a way only someone who has lived with characters like these can relate to. His pronunciation, accent, imitation of the expressions and sense for the culture are spot on. The story itself is interesting and engaging, with enough history to educate, character development to make one wonder and a lot of heart. Worth every moment of your listening pleasure.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sushi
- 06-20-17
Disappointing
The story line keeps jumping around and it tells a while to follow. If you don't speak Spanish you miss a lot. It's a scathing history of the DR under Trujillo but it's depressing and frustrating as Oscar's life seems a big waste as does the book and a waste of Miranda's talent.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lynne Smith
- 04-18-17
Third time did it
I first came across this book when I attended a convention at which Diaz was the keynote speaker. I so thoroughly enjoyed the speech and I could not wait to start the book. However when I started it, for whatever reason at the time, I just wasn't getting into it. I downloaded an audible version a while back but didn't actually listen. So now the third time comes. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Karen Olivia have Done a remarkable job of narrating the complex story of Oscar Wao as we meet him and then learn of his family and it's past. So glad I finally finished it!
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- L. Carroll
- 01-20-17
A wondrous tale
I would never read/listened this book if I hadn't heard about the Lin-Manuel Miranda audiobook. I'm glad I stumbled onto it through Lin-Manuel Miranda. This is an interesting story and well written. I love the humor of the writing even though the story is at times quite dark. I have to admit my Spanish is not good enough for this book but the performance did relay a lot. My only complaint about this is something that may not be as bad if you actually read the physical book. At times I found it difficult to determine the narrator of the story. I will have to investigate this author further.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cesar Garcia
- 02-19-18
amazing narration
Miranda's narration made the book one of the best. I would buy another audio book narrated by Miranda.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- plastic history
- 01-31-18
Fantastic and really delivers
The quote on the front cover really domes it up better than I could, I just want to sencond it. But be warned: this book tears you open.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Acheteur
- 09-16-17
Disturbing
What made the experience of listening to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao the most enjoyable?
"Disturbing" is how I would describe this book in one word. The story and the numerous characters are very different, yet connected. I felt the author was jumping too much from a character to another, which made it hard to follow who he was talking about some times.
Disturbing, was also the voice of the narrator ... screaming - even when not cursing. The women's voice was OK but I didn't understan why there were two narrators anyway.
Yet, I decided to continue this book to the end. I was sad, sometimes disgusted and most of the time ... disturbed. But this book had a particularity to catch me and want to finish it, which is why I'm giving it 4 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful